The revamp featured many of the same elements the show is best known for including a profile of a supercar and a head-to-head challenge between the presenters.

The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage commented on the similarities during a film profiling the new Dodge Viper ACR saying: “It’s well shot. It’s got the same unearned swagger. It’s presented by a man in a car comparing stuff to stuff, then leaving a pause, then accelerating, then shouting. It is identical.”

Unlike previous series, the “star in a reasonably priced car” segment was updated to feature two “stars in a rally cross car” compete on a new Top Gear track including an off-road dirt track, water section and a jump.

Eisenberg and Ramsay were the first to tackle the course, with Ramsay scoring the fastest time of the two.

Alex Robbins, the Telegraph’s motoring journalist, said he was not sure if the format should have been changed: “One of the best bits about this section was the juxtaposition of celebs in something deeply forgettable. The Mini doesn’t work for that remit, because it’s just a bit too cool.

“I mean, you could imagine Eisenberg in a Mini in LA. The entertainment value of seeing him in something dreary has been lost,” he said.

He concluded the show was “a solid first effort”, but added “it could have done with less of the gimmickry and more space to show off the cars themselves”.

<figure class=”media-landscape” has-caption full-width”> Image caption Actor Jesse Eisenberg was one of the first “stars in a rally cross car”

In his commentary, the Independent’s Christopher Hooton said: “The budget and production values were pretty much the same/as high [as previous series] and the show felt very similar, but the original trio were its heart and it needed to take more of a departure without them, not trade off past glories.”

Meanwhile the Huffington Post’s Caroline Frost said: “Matt LeBlanc’s laid-back style when left on his own gives a glimmer of hope.”

The Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts said LeBlanc was “a success” and the show was “reasonably entertaining“. But he added: “It has lost its spark of genius. It all felt a little middle-lane and underwhelming.”

Top Gear became a top trending term on Twitter during the show’s broadcast, with users generally negative of the show’s return without Clarkson.

“Chris Evans was the wrong choice to present the new Top Gear. Very awkward and over excited,” Matt Tapley wrote.

Tom Williams added: “Top Gear was never about the cars, the cars were the background. The presenters were what made that show. BBC should have realised that.”

“Thought the new Top Gear was good, enjoyed it and Matt LeBlanc is the man. Seems a lot of people had already made their mind up,” Mark Biggs wrote.

Although a team of six new presenters were announced for the revamp, only Evans, LeBlanc and Sabine Schmitz were featured in the first episode.

Fellow hosts Rory Reid and Chris Harris presented Top Gear spin-off show, Extra Gear, shown on BBC Three after the main broadcast.

Reaction was positive from the Telegraph, which described Reid as having “oodles of charisma” and praised Harris for having “a natural, relaxed charm”.

Analysis – David Sillito, arts correspondent

Chris Evans said he wasn’t going to mess with a winning formula and he was right. Shows are normally relaunched in an attempt to revive a flagging format – but this was all about trying to hang on to the magic with different people.

Everyone knows the only reason there were two new faces in the Top Gear studio was because of an incident at a Yorkshire hotel in which Jeremy Clarkson gave a producer a swollen bleeding lip and a torrent of abuse.

The question is how much the success was down to the formula developed by Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, and how much it was the personal chemistry of the team who are now creating a motoring programme for Amazon.